California Crisis Management – Prop 23

When you attend an event like this weekend’s BlogCon, hosted by Freedom Works, you get to meet people from all around the country. As you trade stories from your local and state communities, it’s fascinating to find out details on issues that get only passing mention in national politics. Races, redistricting, policies, and more that will be decided this year on election day. For me, one thing that caught my attention was Proposition 23 in California.

California is in crisis. It’s in more than one crisis, actually. Just search the blogs for the words California and crisis and a wealth of woes are on display. There are over 2.2. million unemployed statewide, they’re over $20 billion in debt, and have a foreclosure rate that leads the country.

With California in depression, the ridiculous “global warming plan” of AB 32 has got to go. It’s a job-killing, energy price inflating burden. That’s why Prop 23 is so important, and why Carly Fiorina supports it: It would suspend AB 32.
The so-called climate change law will drive California’s energy markets back to 2001. Rolling blackouts and Enron anyone? I doubt anyone is nostalgic. A cap and trade carbon trading ponzi scheme is exactly what Californians don’t need.

Prop 23 can’t end California’s litany of woes. But it is one more thing that voters there can do on November 2nd to, at least, put disaster on hold. Voting for Republicans at the state and national level is another.

If there was one takeaway from being at events like RightOnline and Blogcon in the last few weeks, it is that online activism gives us a unique way to look at the national picture, to see the implications of state decisions on a national scale. There is so much about our nation being decided this fall. And the date is approaching faster than you think. From Delaware to Ohio to California, we are voting on candidates and issues. And some, as in the case of California, will have national implications. I hope our California readers remember this and vote yes on Prop 23 this November. To put Californians back to work, to prevent soaring energy costs statewide, and to show the nation that, even in California, green dreams shouldn’t trump the American dream.